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THE THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS.

(London: [Printed by The Chiswick Press for] George Bell and Sons, 1890). 198 x 130 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 1/8"). 4 p.l., 287, [1] pp.Reprinted from the Revised Translation of George Long. No. 88 OF 100 LARGE PAPER COPIES SIGNED by Charles Whittingham.ONCE LOVELY AND STILL PLEASING OLIVE-GREEN MOROCCO, HANDSOMELY GILT, BY THE DOVES BINDERY (stamp-signed and dated 1894 on rear turn-in), covers with gilt fillet border with a spray of heart-shaped leaves at corners, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with similar centerpiece, the three-leaf motif repeated in the stippled cornerpieces, gilt titling, turn-ins gilt-ruled with stippled three-leaf cornerpieces, all edges gilt and gauffered with two rows of dots. For the binding: Tidcombe 56. Spine and edges of boards sunned to honey brown, joints rather worn (though boards still firmly attached), occasional minor foxing in the text; the binding with significant condition issues, but an inexpensive example of an early attractively decorated Doves binding without any fatal problems, and with a very clean, fresh, and bright text printed within vast margins.

This is an early product of the Doves Bindery, executed during the second year of the bindery's operation. Tidcombe's detailed and exhaustive catalogue lists 167 examples of bindings produced by Thomas J. Cobden-Sanderson's own hands, all executed between July of 1884 and March of 1893. With this small corpus of work, Cobden-Sanderson (1840-1922) "rejuvenated English binding" with his theories of design "and set it on a new course of development." (Morgan Library Exhibition catalogue) Nixon calls him "the pre-eminent figure in the more recent history of English bookbinding, both as a designer of great originality, who rescued the craft from half a century of purely imitative work, and as a craftsman of outstanding ability." ("Five Centuries") Cobden-Sanderson opened the Doves Bindery on 20 March 1893, and from that day forward no longer bound books with his own hands. He was, however, responsible for all of the designs used by the Doves Bindery, right up to his death at age 82. The present volume is an attractive modern edition of George Long's translation (first printed in 1862), done on high quality paper. First appearing in print in 1550, the 12 books of "Meditations" of the second century Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius Antoninus instruct us to obey the divine law that our reason leads us to understand, to forgive injuries, to treat all humans as equals, and to wait for death without fear. Originally issued in 1862 and characterized by DNB as "admirable," the present translation by Long (1800-79) was very popular.(ST13158)